AFRICA Magic’s Big Brother Africa (BBA) reality show has smashed records since its first launch and with its eighth season already in production, this week the show’s fans emphatically proved that it remains arguably the biggest and most popular television series on the continent when they helped the show hit a milestone one million Facebook likes!
Report by Melissa Mpofu
Having championed the concept of audience engagement from its very first day on air, BBA has reached out to DStv viewers in a variety of innovative ways, including the option for viewers to send messages directly to the screen of the live 24/7 broadcast.
In this way, they get to share their thoughts, opinions and feelings about the show directly with others watching in 47 countries.
But as social media platforms such as Facebook and Twitter have grown rapidly across Africa, so too has the reach of the series as fans dissect actions in the Big Brother house, anticipate twists and turns and share breaking news in what is a remarkable display of African dialogue around a programme that is both hugely entertaining and at the same time socially informative.
Biola Alabi, M-Net Africa managing director, said reaching one million Facebook fans was social engagement at its finest.
“At one level, it’s simply Africans gathering around a specific topic whose conversations are centralised around Big Brother. But on another level, it speaks to the continuous desire for connection that Africans have.
“It clearly demonstrates the growing reality of pan- Africanism, the increasing sense that Africans are stronger together than separately. It’s a remarkable achievement for a show like BBA and one that is only possible because a million people made it so,” said Alabi.
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She added that BBA fans challenged the M-Net management.
“Every day BBA fans challenge us to make something that they will enjoy.
“They push us to keep the concept fresh and they motivate us to keep BBA dynamic. So this is their success. Our thanks go to every single one of them,” she said.
With the entries for the show already closed, BBA 8 is set to run live 24/7 for 91 days on DStv, starting on May 26.
Produced for AfricaMagic by Endemol SA, BBA currently has 279 000 Twitter followers. In 2012, the show drew over 2,3 million messages to TV, over two million unique online browsers and 128 000 000 website page views.
